“The biggest test for the bowling unit will be trying to do what no other team has done this year, which is to win a game and take 20 wickets at Lord’s.”

Lord’s: Home of Rain-Affected Draws as well as Home of Corks. Engineering a result will indeed be a challenge.

But after that, Broad said the following about communicating with the other bowlers: “We always talk, not as an ego thing, but to try to get one over the opening batsman.”

“Not as an ego thing”? What in blazes does that mean? Why would verbal communication – the basic keystone supporting the whole of humankind’s development – ever be considered merely ‘an ego thing’?

Not a year goes by – not one single year – when we do not see two or more human beings engaged in conversation with one another. Not once have we ever thought to ourself: “Look at those raging egotists.”

16 Appeals

Oh you would be surprised. You can usually tell two egotists in conversation because it’s a series of anecdotes, each one being tangentially related to the other, but mostly an excuse to talk about their own experiences and ignore what’s gone before.

Apparently, when we are listening to someone speak, the majority of our attention is being used to formulate and rehearse the thing we want to say next. Only a small part of our brain is actually taking in what the other person is saying. That is a sort-of egotistical thing, because we are focussed more on what we want to do than on the other’s point o… ALRIGHT ALREADY, I’LL PHONE THE BLOODY AMBULANCE, IT’S NOT LIKE HE’S GONE ANY BLUER SINCE YOU ASKED THE FIRST TIME.

But if Broad’s lungs were full of helium, his verbal ejaculations would sound more like Micky Mouse’s than Stuart Broad’s voice. That would detract from ego and/or “getting one over the opposition” purposes, in my humble opinion.

This one is helped by growing up on a street that was named after a proper lord, Lord Lindsay, The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres. The land on which the street was built belonged to this chap. As I often tell people, I grew up on an estate.